Pride 2024 - Featured Stories - The Fight Continues

VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

What does being LGBTQIA+ mean to you? For me, it means that I have a community in this world that sees me for who I am and understands what it takes to survive the turbulent and often dangerous society around us in America. In writing this article, I do so from the perspective of a gay cis-gendered man from rural New Mexico. I have run for public office in my rural community and have even been a part of the larger conversation surrounding our quality of life throughout the state. 

However, this is not where my story began. It has been a long and arduous path paved by the LGBTQIA+ people who came before me, and I am profoundly thankful. Along my journey, it has been my life’s work to uplift and elevate those around me because our voices, as LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and other marginalized people, matter in the fight for equity and equality. 

To achieve equality and equity, we cannot stand alone or silo off from the rest of our communities. No movement, political, social, or otherwise, has successfully been accomplished alone; it requires everyone to be engaged and aware of what the end goal is for our people. The LGBTQIA+ community has a strong history of being unified and a history marked by our internal quarrels. But both of these truths make us stronger today. We need to catalyze our efforts, get involved, run for office, and change the face of modern politics in New Mexico & America. 

As it stands, roughly three elected officials in the new state legislature are members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Why does this matter? Because this reality proves why it is important to get engaged and possibly even run for office. As members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the only way we can effectively protect our rights, change our current social/political trajectory, and see the tomorrow we deserve is by being the voice we’ve always needed. I was 22 when I decided to run for the New Mexico House of Representatives in House District 22, not because I had preplanned and forethought that this was my way into politics, but because it was what was needed. To make a long story relatively short, the best-elected officials are those who don’t seek the spotlight and, quite frankly, do not even want to run for public office. The rationale in this thinking is that these people, our people, rightfully reflect our values, needs, and community.

So, if you want to make the change, secure our future, and ensure that our LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and other marginalized communities are secure, run for office. If you feel that you cannot pull yourself into the mindset to run for office, consider working a campaign, join a political organization (LGBTQIA+ Caucus of the Democratic Party), or at least get out and VOTE. The right to vote has not been a right for all in our history as a country. So, if you cannot volunteer or be engaged that way, please get out and vote. We have a voice in electing the people we want to make the changes you and I need. So protect our tomorrow, next week, and future by standing up, pushing back, and voting. - Augustine Montoya, Chairperson, LGBTQIA+ Caucus of the Democratic Party of New Mexico